The California toxic substances agency has ordered the cleanup of a site in the Central-Alameda neighborhood of Los Angeles, citing what “appears to be a major source of contamination” that “may present a substantial hazard to human health.”
Four Star Chemical and American Labs operated in the late 1970s and 1980s at 5701 Compton Ave. handling hazardous waste. When the site was last tested, solvents were found in the soil below the pavement and down 150 feet. The company has been closed for 38 years.
“You smell all types of stuff around here,” said Barry Jenkins, a resident who has lived in the neighborhood for more than 50 years. “It smells like a chemical.” It’s nauseating, he said.
The businesses had two 3,000-gallon waste storage tanks on site and an additional 4,000-gallon tank for treating waste. There also was waste stored in drums.
Separated only by a gated alley, the fenced-off facility is about 100 feet from the nearest home. A Google Maps image show children’s play equipment outside that home, and on a recent visit there was an above-ground pool.
Across the street is an 8.5-acre historic South L.A. oasis — Augustus F. Hawkins Nature Park.
The language of the order from the Department of Toxic Substances Control is urgent. Yet the most recent testing at the site was 25 years ago. The test results appear in blurry tables in pdfs. Those tables, plus a hard-to-decipher map dating to the same time, show high levels of a carcinogenic chemical on the property and extending beyond it.
Specifically, that 2001 testing showed the carcinogenic solvent and dry-cleaning chemical perchloroethylene, or PCE, in the soil at levels as high as 6,658 micrograms per liter, said Alysa Pakkidis, information officer for the agency.
That’s 14 million times as much as can safely be in indoor air, according to the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment. The Times requested from the agency — but did not receive — the level considered safe in soil.
In an email, the state toxics agency also noted other contaminants of concern: 1,1-dichloroethene (DCE), chloroform, 1,1,1-trichloroethane, trichloroethylene (TCE), Freon-113, and 1,1-dichloroethane.
Blayne Hartman, an expert in vapors such as PCE, said that to understand the risk to those nearby, homes would have to be tested. He said it is likely that vapor could be present beneath homes, depending on the flow of groundwater.
“Certainly some of those homes will have some type of vapor intrusion risk, really the only way to know for sure is to go test the home,” he said.
State documents say structures within 100 feet of subsurface pollution may be at risk. The state says it is unclear how many people in the community could be affected.
Once the current site owners do a facility investigation, the agency will know how to proceed with cleanup, “which may, if necessary, include testing nearby homes,” Pakkidis said.
No homes have been tested yet.
“If immediate threats to public health are discovered,” DTSC will require the property owner to act, she said.
The agency says this is not the first time it has attempted to have a responsible party investigate and clean up the property. It pressed for an investigation in 1996, when volatile compounds were found in the soil and soil gas.
After the report where that finding was made, the state officially closed down and fenced off the facility.
Previous owners of the American Labs Inc. facility did not fulfill agreed cleanup obligations, Pakkidis said.
“Efforts to identify the responsible party were hindered by ownership transitions and liability disputes, which delayed DTSC’s enforcement activities,” she said.
Rhine now owns the property.
In June, it signed an agreement with the agency committing it to on- and off-site testing of groundwater and soil. Rhine also must propose a cleanup plan.
“We were a little bit naive when we bought the property. We didn’t fully understand the scope of what needs to be done,” said Chris Mathys, Rhine’s manager.
The investigation and cleanup process could be expensive and take years to complete, he said. With the previous owners gone, Mathys said that the situation was “inherited,” but the company is ready to “remediate the property.”
Rhine said its is not related to any previous owners of the site.
“This is a site that for some reason slipped through the cracks,” Hartman said.
